| The purpose of this research was to explore the shame, guilt, and depression experienced by the families of incarcerated murderers. A quasi-experimental, quantitative approach was used and participants were assessed online with the Internalized Shame Scale (ISS), the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). A review of the literature revealed the individuals related to incarcerated murderers are impacted negatively by the stigma associated with this relation. The aim of this research focused on individuals who are psychologically, and sometimes physically, impacted by the actions of the convicted murderers to whom they are related. This study examined the possibility that individuals related to incarcerated murderers experience higher levels of shame, depression, and guilt compared to individuals related to an incarcerated individual for any crime, excluding murder. The findings from this research provide quantitative evidence that an individual related to an incarcerated murderer does not have significantly higher levels of shame, guilt, and depression than an individual related to an incarcerated individual for any crime, as determined by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), p<.05. Although, not significant, the findings suggest that families of those incarcerated for various crimes not including murder are experiencing slightly higher levels of emotional impact than those related to someone incarcerated for murder. A discussion of the findings and recommendations for further research is explored. |
